N.L. truck driver says there's confusion over COVID-19 regulations — and no rapid testing upon arrival

Truck drivers in Newfoundland and Labrador say there's a lot of confusion about COVID-19 rules for their industry, and getting clarification from the provincial government has been an uphill battle. 

Driver Tony Power, who lives in Newfoundland and works primarily throughout Atlantic Canada, says truck drivers are being waved through upon arrival in Port aux Basques, on Newfoundland's west coast, instead of getting the rapid test the Department of Health mandated for points of entry into the province. 

"I'm just doing what I've done right from the beginning of COVID. I don't go nowhere when I get home unless it's work-related. That's the only thing we're allowed to do," Power told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show on Tuesday. 

"If you're only home for a day or two it's not too big of an inconvenience, I guess. But if you're home five or six days, you're just confined.… You're limited in what you can do."

According to the government's website, fully vaccinated resident truck drivers who are in the province for less than seven days must get a PCR test as soon as possible upon their return home and complete rapid tests once a day for five days or the duration of their stay if it's less than five days. 

Non-resident truck drivers are exempt from testing requirements but must follow the same isolation requirements as other essential workers.

CBC News has asked the Department of Health for comment about the availability of rapid testing kits and booster shots for truck drivers.

Booster doses are also viewed as an important factor in the fight against  COVID-19, but according to Power there are challenges there as well. 

Since truck drivers travel to and from the province, he said, they have to go to an "isolation clinic" to get their shotbut are having trouble finding one. And if they do manage to book an appointment, drivers can be held up on either side of the ferry crossing by weather conditions.

"We have no information. We cannot find an isolation clinic," Power said. "There's nothing listed saying there's an isolation clinic in Holyrood, or Mount Pearl or Clarenville. There's nothing available there to tell us."

Power said getting a straight answer from the Department of Health on rapid testing and booster doses has been an ongoing saga.

He said he wants to know how he can get a booster dose and rapid test kits but hasn't heard anything in three days. He's asking for clarification from the provincial government.

"Out here traveling all the time, it's very hard. You're in and out of service all the time, it's difficult," he said. 

"We just want to follow the regulations."